Project Restart: What England need to change now to fix their dismal Calcutta Cup display

[ASFN Admin]

Coaching - by Gavin Mairs The focus on how to fix England cannot be restricted to on-field issues. The question has to be asked, as the side enter the mid-World Cup cycle, has Eddie Jones assembled the best coaching ticket he can to meet his goal set last year of becoming the greatest side the world has seen? England’s attacking problems over the last 12 months appear to stem back to the departure of Scott Wisemantel in the wake of the World Cup in Japan in 2019. Wisemantel was instrumental in addressing England’s midterm slump in 2018 when he joined the set-up after the tour of South Africa and helped mastermind the stand-out performances against Australia and New Zealand in the World Cup the following year. The 50-year-old could not be persuaded to stay on, however, and is now back in his native Australia as Dave Rennie’s attack coach. His replacement, Simon Amor, was effectively an in-house appointment as he was already on the RFU’s books as Sevens coach, but has simply not managed to replicate the impact of Wisemantel. The appointment of Jason Ryles as England’s skill coach from NRL side Melbourne Storm has also been disrupted. Ryles arrived in the UK in November to begin work for the Autumn Nations Cup but then returned to Australia in December and January and then announced just two weeks before the start of the Championship that he was not relocating to England because of the pandemic. It was hardly ideal timing and poses questions about why he was not in position to do his day job much sooner than that.

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